One Minute More
by daydreamfox
Summary: Life changes for a 26-year old surgeon when a 19-year old boy who long battles with leukemia enters his hospital and turns his world upside down.
1. Chapter 1

— ▽o▽o▽—

On the cold month of early January, Trafalgar Law stepped foot into Sacred Heart Hospital. It was Friday morning, second day of the New Year; most staff was just coming back from winter vacation trying to get back in tune with reality. Law however, was way ahead of the game compared to everyone else. Coming up to the nurses front desk with a warm cup of coffee in his hand, he greets them blankly as he picks up some former patient files to start off his day. He was one of the many great surgeons in this building, and although he was the most talented in his field, he was also the most intimidating. Not many of the staff ever talked to him, but they sure as hell respected him.

Law quietly looked over his files one by one; noticing his right hand man and good friend, Bepo standing right beside him. He was always a quiet guy, Bepo. He was almost like a ninja the way he snuck up on people with his presence being unnoticed. Law didn't mind it thought, in fact he was quite content with the little words Bepo ever said.

"Is that file for me?" Law asked as he continues to stare down at his sheet of papers.

"Oh, yes." Bepo replied. Handing over the new file and taking the rest of them in his hand so that Law could observe it better. "Kaya just gave this one to me as I walked in."

"Ms. Victoria Cindy, heart transplant." He read out loud as he closed the file and picked up his coffee from the counter. "Alright, let's get to work."

Next thing he knew, his face was kissed the cold hard floor.

He had no idea how it happened. All he knew was that no more than five second later, papers where soon scatters all across the floor with spilt coffee splattered everywhere.

Fresh coffee stains now decorated Law's white coat as he laid flat on the ground with a heavier weight laying over him. The staff along with a growing audience circled around the two bodies as they helplessly watched the pair struggle to stand up on their feet. Bepo offered a hand to Law, who without hesitation took it. Some of the other staff kindly picked up the scattered papers across the floor, putting them together as neat as possible as they set them on the counter.

Law was irritated as fuck. Wiping off the dust from his coat and jeans, he soon noticed stained coffee all over his outfit. And if that didn't piss him off, the pile of papers that where now permanently stuck together definitely did. What a fantastic way to start off a new year.

He quickly moved his attention back to floor where the carless teen remained.

Pulling him up from the collar of his shirt, Law looked directly into the said teens eyes with his own eyes burning with rage.

"You idiot, can't you see this is a hospital! Watch where you're going!"

While rubbing the back of his head and readjusting his yellow red beanie, the boy then took notice of the doctor holding onto him. He looked around and observed the large mess decorated all over the floor that was more than likely his own doing. Giving the doctor the most apologetic smile he could possibly muster up, he was soon yanked away freely, only by someone a lot worse.

"What the hell do you think you are doing? Stop acting like a child and let's go!" said the male who appeared almost identical as the young teen standing between them. Only difference came out to be his height as well as face that was covered in freckles. By Laws understanding, he must have been a relative to the troublesome teen. "Thank you for finding my little brother, doctor."

"I didn't." he made clear "He carelessly ran into me and spilled an entire cup of coffee all over my coat and floor. I opt to have security come and escort him out—"

"No, no, that won't be necessary, really." Ace awkwardly laughed.

"Oh it's very necessary."

"Look," Ace read the name tag on Laws coat. "Dr. Trafalgar, you see my brother Luffy here is a patient and the idiot was just trying to get away from his appointment. Happens all the time." Law looked at him un-amused, "security and nurses are already out searching for him, so you see, calling security won't be necessary."

"Oi, Ace! Let go of me!" Luffy whined as he struggles to free his arm from his brother's grip.

"That's enough Luffy! Just look at the mess you have already caused. Now I believe you owe Dr. Trafalgar an apology for all the crap you have made."

Luffy rolled his eyes at Ace as he turns back around to face Law, "I'm sorry for spilling your drink all over your coat and on the floor….Next time; you should really watch where you are standing." smiling at the end of his sentence as if everything were a complete joke.

"Excuse me?" Law looked like he was just about ready to strangle the boy.

"Oookay… Luffy that's enough." Ace pulled Luffy closer to him. Two nurses along with a large security guard came running in their direction, stopping when they caught up to where the commotion was taking place. The two nurses gently took Luffy by each arm, and begin to escort him away in the rightful direction that he needed to be. "I'm sorry about my brother Dr.; I'll make sure he buys you another drink next time."

Law watched as Ace chasing after the nurses that walked his brother in the direction of his appointment. Sighing in annoyance while rubbing the temples of his forehead, Law turned back around to collect his files that remained untouched on the counter. Conis, one of the sweet nurses that worked behind the counter, caringly asked the surgeon if he was okay, Law of course, ignored her concern and strode off in the direction of his office.

Later Bepo answered Conis with two thumbs up, indicating that everything was perfectly okay with Law as he followed after him.

Locking the door to his office, Law pulls off his ruined coat and shoves it into the small closet he kept behind his desk. He grabs a fresh clean one, but still curses out loud as he slides his hands between the sleeves. He is irritated with how bad his day is starting off and mentally remembers how Fridays where usually days where he stayed in till six pm. Fuck was it going to be a long day.

— ▽o▽o▽—

Law finds himself in his usual spot during lunch seated beside Bepo as they both eat their meal in silence. Shachi, who works in the physical rehabilitation department, claimed his seat next the quit pair not to long after. He greets both the cardiologist with a warm hello before beginning to pick at various vegetables from his soup, making irritating noises with the back of his throat as he did so. Law found it completely annoying, and took hold of his risk that warned him to stop, however Shachi only smirked in response because he loved teasing Law.

The last to join the group was Penguin. He was an intern for the Oncology department and currently serving his last successful year. He had ran into the group during a meeting his first year, and although it was more suitable for him to hang around people more in his department, something about this odd gang pulled him closer to them. With Law, Shachi, and Bepo he actually felt like he belonged.

As usual they began to chat about random stuff going on in their department. Shachi always had a story to tell and most of the time it dragged on until the end of the day. It was true that his area did have more excitement than the other two, but what did you expect when you worked in physical therapy. Sometimes he bragged about sport celebrities that would often come in for a checkup or in his defense, would often come in to have the amazing physician work his magic on them. Shachi was a cocky son of a bitch but nevertheless he was still Laws best friend.

"Hey Law, how'd your coffee taste this morning?" Shachi asked with a serious expression that hid more mischief between his sealed lips. Bepo and Penguin began to chuckle between themselves as they slowly watched the look on Laws face grow from confusion to complete realization and anger.

"How the fuck do you know what happened?" Law commanded with gritted teeth.

Shachi pulls out his phone from his pocket and turns it over so that Law could view the Snapchat post took directly of him with the boy Luffy as well as coffee spilt all around them. He was lying on the floor with eyes shut tight, the boy was right on top of him in a very inappropriate position that he took no notice to before, and god did he look so un-cool. Scanning to see who was responsible for this post, his eyes locked onto Bepo's name that was printed right beside the photo. Of course it had to be this damn ninja, he'll definitely make sure to get him back for this next time.

Once all the teasing and laughing were all said and done, Shachi decided to change to subject onto a more serious matter. He slid his lunch tray to the side so that he could have more space to rest his elbow as he started to talk again.

"Law, you're coming over tonight to watch the hockey game with us, right?"

"No thanks," Law says without hesitation. "I have plans to stay home tonight and catch up on some paper work."

"Awe, c'mon Law, it'll be fun! We even bought beers." He throws in as if it would completely change Law's mind. It would have definitely worked on him, he figured why not give it a try. "Don't you want to spend a nice Friday night at my place with the guys?" Shachi was now pretending to make a pouty face.

"I don't like hockey." He says in irritation. "And besides, what ever happened to that one girl you where living with. What was her name again? Sasha?"

"Rebecca." Shachi corrects him with a frustrated tone "Her name was Rebecca and if you must know, we are no longer together."

"I didn't want to know, but thanks for clarifying that either way." Law was paying no attention to the daggering glare Shachi was sending to him. His eyes remains fixed on his phone as he, out of boredom, swiped through random screens. He continues to speak while his still remained glues to his phone, "Well not like it was going to last anyways. She acted too much like a spoiled princess anyways, so you saved yourself a lot of trouble there by letting her go."

"Well fuck you very much. Seriously man, you're so cold and heartless sometimes."

"I thought Rebecca dumped you?" Bepo asked, adding himself into the conversation.

"Bepo, shut up." Shachi spat, kicking him on ankle under the table.

Law grows annoyed with the pointless conversation. He doesn't know why they keep bothering to invite him, they should know perfectly well by now that he would never even show up.

Penguin, who everyone almost forgot was sitting at the table, started chuckling to himself. The group stared at him with a questioning look before finally letting everyone else in on what he found so amusing.

"You just called Law heartless…and well, he is after all a cardiologist, so dealing with dead hearts is pretty much his specialty." Still chuckling to himself.

"Geeze, it's no wonder you hardly have any friends then Law." Shachi tosses a rolled up ball from his straw at the surgeons finished lunch tray. "You're lucky we went to school together and let you be my friend."

"Oh, is that how it went?" Law questioned with a perked eyebrow. He leaded back against his seat with crossed arms as he stared at Shachi. "I seem to recall a time when a certain red head was getting bullied by some seniors because of his heterochromia and me beating the shit out of them for you."

The red head huffed as he looked away, "whatever, you're still is dick."

Everyone in the group began to laugh. They knew how easily sensitive Shachi would react to when the story did not make him look like a hero. However, that's what he gets for acting all high and mighty in the first place.

"Anyways as I was saying…Law I am asking you to please come over to my apartment tonight. It won't kill you if you showed up for just a little."

"No"

Shachi cover his hands over his face while shaking his head. He groaned in frustration. Locking his fingers back together, he took a calm breath before staring back at Law with a smile. "You wouldn't do that to a friend would ya? C'mon, please don't make me beg."

Rolling his eyes, "Fine, I'll be there. What time—fuck what the hell is she doing coming over here?"

As obvious as they could make themselves be, all three suddenly turned around to see who the person might be that Law was referring to. However, the lunch room was crowed like always, filled with doctors and nurses everywhere. It was impossible to find anyone in such a place. Scanning the room entirely, all six eyes suddenly landed on a familiar green haired doctor who was in fact making her way closer to their table.

Everyone truing back around quickly, pretending like they had absolutely no idea what was going on. They all kept their eyes on Law though, curious to see just how this conversation was going to go down.

"Hello boys." The doctor greets them with a smile.

"Hey, Monet." Everyone but Law replies.

She kept her hands inside the pocket of her coat, standing nice and tall like she meant business. She was a beautiful woman of power; many of the female staff envied her strong charisma.

"Penguin, when you are finished eating I need you to meet me in radiology with Dr. Virgo, room 224, got it. Oh and please bring the MRI results for patient Breed while you are on your way."

"Understood , I'll be there right away."

"Thank you, Penguin." Placing her hand over his shoulder with a sincere smile, "Gentlemen, if you would excuse me, I'll leave you to finish your lunch in peace."

She turned the corner of the table, walking confident as ever in her black high heels as she exited the cafeteria.

Bepo and Shachi let out a breath of air that they didn't notice they were holding.

"Well that went well." Bepo says, asking no one in particular.

"Awkward would be more like it." Shachi interjects "No lie though, I was seriously holding in my breath the entire time. Seriously Penguin, how do you do it? Interning for Monet, isn't it strange? Does she ever mention to you why she walked out on Law? Was it because of some other guy?" he kept going on.

"Shachi if you don't shut the fuck up right now, I will seriously perform heart surgery on you right here!" Law threatened with rage. His hand griped tightly to the plastic knife in his tattooed hand.

"Uh, I think I'm going to head off now and get those MRI results. Shachi lets go." Penguin cuts in. He gets up carrying his empty tray in his hands as he nudges Shachi to come along with him…and quickly.

Shachi, being oblivious to the deathly situation, doesn't budge and remains sitting down sipping on his ice tea. "Eh? Why me? I don't have to attend to my next patient till two."

"Well tuff shit, your now joining me to get the results." Pulling him from his arm. "Now let's go before Law puts you in the morgue."

Law watches as Penguin pulls Shachi away with him and out of the room. He mentally thanks Penguin for taking him away with him because seriously, there was no telling what murderous act he was about to commit.

He loved Shachi, he really did, but damn did he seriously not know when to shut up sometimes.

"You okay, boss?" Bepo asks, trying to hide his tone of concern.

"Never better." Standing up from his seat. He picks up his white coat that was hanging behind his chair and swings it over his shoulder. "C'mon, time to prep the room for Ms. Victoria Cindy."

— ▽o▽o▽—

Monday morning came by so fast in Laws opinion. He still felt slightly hung-over after three night of repeated drinking with the guys. And in the end of it all, he still failed to complete the large stack of unfinished papers that he claimed needed to be done by today.

He made his way into his office where a nice, well organized pile of folders for today's operations were waiting for him to be overlooked.

Law opened the closet door to place his brown messenger bag inside and away. He also pulled out a white coat that he required. Flipping through random shirts that he often left behind, a familiar coffee stained coat that was now pertinently ruined by certain teen caught his eye. Pulling it out and giving a last look over before tossing it away, he silently cursed to himself at the said boy from last Friday.

Nice and clean, he checked himself in the mirror to make sure the coat wasn't carrying any stains after being kept inside the closet with the stained one. He slumped his tired body on the chair while burring his face in his arms. Checking to see the time on his watch, Law quickly realized that he still had thirty minutes before his first patient, Iceburg arrived. With the spare time remaining, he decided to make his way to the main lounge and grab himself a hot cup of coffee to help ease his throbbing migraine.

Because it was still early with little people hovering around, Law sighed in content as he walked over to the coffee machine. He placed his files on the small table beside the machine and began to pour himself some coffee. As doing so, a familiar voice perked his attention…of course working here for so long you seem to forget who's voice belongs to who's nowadays. Turning around to hopefully catch a glimpse of who the owner of the voice belonged to, he once again for the second time that early year found his perfect coffee splattered all over the ground yet again.

"Ops, my bad. I'm sorry sir—oh crap…not again."

It was like god had bestowed this shitty judgment onto Law, because seriously he couldn't catch a damn break with this kid.

"I give up. I just can't catch a damn break with you, can I?" picking up the perfectly ruined coffee cup from the floor and throwing it away. "Do you ever watch where you are going?"

"I saw where I was going; you just got in the way, again."

This kid had a death wish.

"Oh is that so—" Law catches a glimpse of the time from the clock hanging behind Luffy. "Shit, I don't have time for this crap right now. Nurse, could you please call the janitor over to clean up this spill."

Law was aggravated as fuck. He gathered up his belonging before hurrying to make his leave, of course since he was being gods special child this past week, duty called.

"Oi, wait up" Luffy chased after him. "Let me make it up to you. We could get some coffee after you're done."

Law stopped from his tracks and swiftly turned to face the teen who was wearing the same yellow with red beanie as last Friday. "Like hell, so you could just spill it all over me again. No thanks. Now excuse me, I have important business to attend to."

"Awe, c'mon, it'll be fun. Ace would be super happy if I did this."

"Do you not understand the meaning of _no_?" Law was growing impatient and needed to get away from this guy and fast before they starts to draw a crowd.

Luffy grabbed onto Law's arm to stop him from leaving, repeatedly pleading for him to agree. It was then that people began to stare.

It was a lose battle with this teen and Law had only one option to take before he insanely lost it in front of the large crowd that kept growing.

"Alright, you win. Now release me." Luffy let go of the surgeon, wearing a victorious smile on his face as he did so. "I don't get my next break till two o'clock. We'll meet up here, if you're not here, I leave, understood?"

"Well it's no wonder you're always having coffee. You always this grumpy?" Luffy decided to joke. Thought his humor isn't really helping anyone in this situation right now.

"Well, you are not the one who had their drink knocked out of them, twice." He hissed.

"Hey, I said I was sorry."

"Whatever, I have to go. Remember, two o'clock. Don't be late." Law turns and starts walking away.

"Yeah yeah, I got it." Watching at the surgeon begins to disappear in the crowd, he smiles when hollers back at him one last time. "I'll make sure to get you two coffees to help with that grumpy mood of yours." He chuckles in the end.

Law doesn't say anything; he simply continues to walk forward and towards his destination. His only response is a swift hand movement he throws up to indicate at Luffy that he understood. After that, he is long vanished in the hospital crowd. Luffy smiles and turns the opposite way, making his way in the direction that he also needed to be.

— ▽o▽o▽—

**I honestly just wanted to write some angst. **

**Anyways, please let me know what you all thought about this fic, I would greatly appreciate it! ^-^ So as you could already tell by the summary, this story will have to do with Luffy struggling with his battle of cancer so yes this might turn out sad for some of you who decide follow along. Although I'm not a doctor or have personal connections with cancer, I will still try my best to get possible circumstances as accurate as I can, no promises though, after all this is fanfiction, not WebMD (;**


	2. Chapter 2

— ▽o▽o▽—

With his arms resting comfortable behind his head, Luffy makes his way down the hospital halls. Humming to the tune of his favorite song, he passes various doctor offices until he finds himself standing in front of a familiar door. The words _Department of Psychiatry_ is labeled on the front, however just before entering, everything completely changed.

With arm shaking and sweat beginning to form, a sharp sudden pain was felt just below Luffy's stomach. He catches his balance as he leans his aching body against the wall, closing his eyes tight and taking deep breaths as he tries to suppress the pain. This had already been the second time today and numerous times since this month, something was not right.

Clutching tightly onto his stomach, he begins to count silently to ten until the pain finally comes to an end. God, the pain hurt like a bitch. But he knew it was probably nothing to worry about.

Finally able to breathe regular, he readjusted his beanie, brushed off the invisible dust from his pants and without further delay; he turns the cold knob and steps inside. Just a simple stomach virus was all it was. At least that's what he kept telling himself.

Often times Luffy finds himself being the only patient inside the cramp office, today wasn't any different. Already used to the routine, he announces his arrival from across the small room before making his way to the front desk where the single assistant sat happily looking towards him.

"Everyone, please hold your applause. I have arrived."

"Hello Luffy, it's good to see you again." The front office assistant lightly chuckles. "I see you are doing very well."

"Hey Koala! How are you?"Luffy stands in front of the desk as he greets the secretary.

"I'm doing great; mornings have been going pretty slow lately so I've just been catching up on my school work." She responds, sliding over a clear clipboard with a pen and paper attached to it.

"I could tell." He signs his signature on the paper, "looks pretty boring in hear."

"Well, it's also very quit, so to me that's a good thing." She looks over the paper and begins to type some words onto the computer. "Anyways, how have you been doing lately, Luffy? It's been a whole month since we last saw each other."

"I've been great!" He says, "Ace even started letting me take the bus alone for my appointments— of course that's only when he has to drive Vivi to college."

Koala chuckled at Luffy's childish pout.

"Well that explains why you arrived here so early then. Maybe we should try and convince your brother to let you ride the bus more often, since you appear to get here much earlier than you normally do."

"Hey—"

"_Oh_—Good morning Luffy."

The teen swiftly turns in the direction of the familiar voice calling his name.

"Sabo!" He happily runs over to his therapist who was barely making his way into the small office as well.

In just the blink of an eye, Luffy attacked his therapist with a tight squeeze. Sabo followed in his steps and did the same, always happy to see his favorite patient. It was always like this between the two males, even before Luffy started coming four year ago.

Finally letting go, Sabo walks over towards the front desk and collects the familiar file already sorted out for him. He smiles graciously at Koala for handing him the file. Before moving onto to anything else, he scanned over Luffy's file and double checked for any changes since last month—everything was perfectly normal from what it seemed. And with a satisfying huff, Sabo closes the file and opens the door to the other room leading to his personal office.

"Shall we get started then?" He says, holding the door for Luffy as he lets the said male walk inside first. He gives Koala one final smile before closing the door shut and begins with his monthly session.

Inside the familiar office, Luffy takes his usual seat on the long comfortable couch next to the organized book shelf. He pulls off his shoes, and makes himself at home. Sabo follows the teen inside and places his '_in session'_ sign outside before closing and locking the door. Instead of going for the usual sofa chair that every other therapist would normally sit on, Sabo goes for his favorite yoga ball and takes his seat in front of Luffy along with the file and a yellow notebook resting comfortably on his lap.

"Wow, the room looks a lot different since the last time I was here. Did you guys paint the walls or something?"

"Oh so you noticed?" Sabo chuckles, "We just got them pained about three weeks ago. Koala kept nagging about how tacky the color was beginning to look, so I got them painted so she could stop harassing me about it. I tell you, women these days." Nodding his head with a warm smirk on his lips.

"Well it's a good thing that you listened to her because the room looks a lot nicer now in this color."

"Yeah, that's definitely true." He replies before sitting up straight again. "Alright, that's enough with this new colored wall. So how are you Luffy? How are you feeling?"

The young raven reached behind the couch where the bookshelf stood and fetched for his favorite object. A small yet colorful plastic toy ball now sat perfectly between his hands. As Luffy fiddled around with the multi-colored expanding ball, he crossed his legs in an Indian like position—making himself more comfortable as he began with the usual therapy.

"I was just telling Koala how Ace is now letting me take the bus alone for my appointments. It feels good being able to do things on my own again."

"Wow that's very exciting news— it's good to know that Ace is even moving forward with the next step of your recovery."

"Yup. But it's not all the time though, only on the days he takes Vivi to school."

"Still, it's something. One step at a time—you've only just been on remission for about four months now, so it's understandable that you would be eager to do things independently and for Ace to oppose."

Luffy groans irritably as he slumps his body on the couch with the ball still his hands. He lies on his back as if he where resting on a bed and goes back to playing with the toy ball.

"This sucks! I'm 19; I shouldn't have to be treated like a child."

"Nobody here is treating you like a child, Luffy; our intentions are nowhere of that sort. We are only looking out for you—just like any other normal person would do for someone battling any other illness."

Luffy tosses the ball towards the other end of the couch and crosses his arms. "Yeah, but still. It would be nice to be able to do things like normal people my age—like travel to different places, eat whatever I want—"

"Go to school, learn to drive a car, get a job…things like that you mean?" The therapist added.

"Uh, I guess those could apply."

"Unbelievable. Luffy, have you even thought about the colleges you would be interested in applying to?" Crossing his arms and quirking an eyebrow to the young teen. "Last time we met, we discussed about possible schools suitable for the career you where interested in, remember."

Luffy rubs the back of his head with an awkward laugh. "Is that what we talked about? Guess my medication is still causing me to forget these kinds of things."

"Don't give me that cancer excuse crap to hide away your laziness—I've known you long enough to know when you are lying." Staring directly at Luffy who had his eyes fixed elsewhere. The teen was an obvious liar. "Tell you what, I'm going to look up some colleges for you and that way next time we meet, you will choose between those I picked out for you, agreed?"

"Awe, do I really have to?"

"Yup, end of discussion." He concludes, writing down some notes onto the yellow notebook. "Now changing to a different matter, have you thought about going back into support group?"

"I thought about it…" was all he said.

"Uh-huh, and?"

"And— I've decided that I'm not going to go back."

"Luffy did you even give yourself time to think about it?" he crosses his arms "Or are you just saying the first thing the pops into your head?"

The said male rose from his seat and leaned forwards on the couch. He began complaining about not wanting to go back to support group.

"Why do I even have to go back there again? It's _so_ boring!"

"But it's also good for you." He tries to persuade. "I also believe that it would be good for the other patient's as well. Them seeing you and hearing about your recovery; it would help a lot of them, don't you think?"

"—I guess."

"Look, just think about it, okay. I don't want to push you into anything you don't want to do." he concluded the argument. After that, the remainder of the session had passed like a breeze for the two, with less arguing and more talking.

The session was just about coming to an end, Sabo was writing down his final notes onto the yellow notepad and Luffy was tying up his shoelaces. With fifteen minutes left to spare, the conversation switched onto a more casual tone rather than the business like one they usually shared nowadays.

"Tell Ace to not be a stranger and give me a call or stop by my office sometime, okay."

"I will." Luffy chuckles. He knows that Sabo was being serious about it too. Figures, the therapist missed talking with his best friend. "Hey, you know you could just stop by our place whenever you want—oh I know, come over for dinner! It would be great and you could even bring Koala and she could talk with Vivi and you and Ace could catch up and—"

"Alright I got it Luffy." Ruffling the teens raven hair. He slides is hands inside his pockets soon after as they make their way towards the exit. "Guess I'm just going to have to do that then aren't I? And by the way, Koala and I aren't dating just so you know. She's my secretary and that it, stop making it seem as if we are a couple."

"Couldn't of fooled me. The way you guys stare at each other, it's almost hard to believe either of you two."

"Well believe it."Opening the door for Luffy. His face was already starting to turn a light shade of red. "We're just coworkers— and that's it."

"Hey just saying, if you really like her then you should just ask he out—no use waiting till the last minute" Luffy turned around from the door to face Sabo directly. "Besides, isn't she transferring to another state like this spring or something?" he brings his arms up in surrender. "I'm just saying."

"Am I really getting love advice from one of my patients—nevertheless, one who's never dated a day in his life before?" He shakes his head in astonishment.

"Looks like it." Stepping out the office door, he walks over to the front desk where Koala remained typing on the computer. He grabs an orange lollypop from the jar and bids farewell to his favorite secretary. "See you later Koala, good luck with your classes." He's already at the main exit and standing between the open door. "Thanks for today Sabo, I'll make sure to give Ace your message when I get home. Remember; don't wait till the last minute— Bye."

The door shuts closed and Sabo is left standing next to Koala in the small empty office.

"What does he mean by last minute? Last minute for what?"

"I'll tell you some other day."He smiles and turns around, making his way back to his main office. Damn Luffy, he always knew how to get into your head.

— ▽o▽o▽—

Law continues to stare out the window and into the cold white spread of snow. On the fourth floor, you could almost get a good look of the city as the snow stretched on for miles. It looked almost like a Christmas postcard, the way the snow painted the streets. Truly a captivating view of Chicago.

His last appointment finished early and so he used that extra time to find a seat in the crowded lounge. Lucky for him, he managed to find a perfect seat next to a window—for some reason being able to stare out through them always had him feeling more relaxed. And just like that, the doctor took his seat and waited.

Two minutes remain until the Luffy kid is considered late and Law could get the hell out of here. God, he really hopes he doesn't show up.

One minute more and still no sign of Luffy.

Times up. Law checks his watch to reassure and with a silent sigh he begins to gather up his belonging before making his leave. Already standing up, he's just about ready to turn and leave when—the sight of a familiar yellow beanie catches his attention and soon after takes a seat across from his.

The teen is panting heavily in his seat. He drops his brown shoulder bag on the empty seat next to him and gives Law a friendly smile after.

"Sorry I'm late. I ran into an old friend on my way over here." he chuckles, "By the way I'm glad you came. I was worried that you weren't going to show up and bail on me or something."

"Well someone did promise me two cups of coffee."

Luffy laughs harder this time. "I sure did—two cups of coffee coming right up." he spots his good friend Keimi who was also a waitress coming near them. Calling her name to gain her attention, she walks over to their table with her friendly smile.

"I thought that was you, Luffy. What can I get for you?"

"Can I get two regular cups of coffee and some hot chocolate with extra whip cream please?"

"Sure thing." scribbling the order on the tiny notepad, "Would that be all? How about a banana nut muffin? My treat!"

"That sounds delicious! Thanks Keimi, you're the best!"

"Anytime Luffy. It's always good having you around." She sincerely says before heading back to the café to makes them their drinks.

It was just the two of them alone this time. Law had absolutely no clue what to talk to this boy about, hell he had no clue what to talk to anyone about. He believed that silence was to key. Though, it seemed like Luffy believe the complete opposite.

"Saved any lives this morning?" Luffy started off. His eyes shinned with interest as his legs swung underneath his chair waiting for a reply.

"Who do you think I am, Superman?" Quirking an eyebrow to the younger boy. "This isn't some comic book, kid."

"I'm not a kid. I'm 19."

"Oh? And I suppose running around the hospital, being chased by nurses and security is going to make me believe you?" crossing his arms and leaning back against his seat. "Or is this just how 19 years olds act now days."

"Hey, I don't like needles okay." Also crossing his arms soon after. "You would run too if you knew how painful they are."

"Need I remind you that you are telling this to a doctor? I know plenty about needles."

Puffing out his cheeks and tuning his head towards the window, "Well whatever then. You have your fears and I have mine."

"Is that really why you ran from your appointment last Friday—because you are afraid of needles?"

"It's not like it was the first time I've ran from them— Ace is just making a big deal out of nothing. Every time he thinks something is wrong with me, he immediately has me get checked."

"Why are you sick?" Law asked again. What was with him and these curious questions all of a sudden?

In that same second, Keimi came walking back to their table and dropped off the two coffees and one hot chocolate with extra whip cream. She places some napkins next to Luffy and lays the freshly baked banana nut muffin beside him. Giving them both a smile and an extra one to Luffy, she walks away. Luffy's eyes begin to shine with delight.

The satisfying feeling of drinking a fresh brewed cup of coffee without any spills makes Law's day feeling a hell of a lot better. He's definitely been waiting for this fulfilling beverage all morning. He drinks his coffee quietly to himself, savoring the taste with every gulp. A light yelp is heard coming from the teen across him and when he focuses his attention on the boy, all he sees is a tongue sticking out and his hand blowing over it. Idiot must have burnt his tongue.

They each drink there warm beverages quietly to themselves. Law forgets about his question from earlier but decided to not bring it up because he'd much rather enjoy the simple silence a lot more. Of course, good things must always have to come to an end at one point.

"How's your coffee?" Luffy asks. Taking audible slurps from his hot chocolate that make Law cringe.

"It's edible. How are you doing with that hot chocolate there? Need a beard for that mustache?" He uncomically teases. A hardly noticeable grin forms on the side of his lips as he stares at the said teem with the white creamy mustache.

Luffy then catches his reflection in the window. He smiles and laughs to himself "I totally look like my grandpa with this thing." wiping off the whip cream with his sleeve.

He soon hears his name shouted in the distance and moves his attentions towards the familiar voice. Heading near his table was a young teenage girl with long pink hair being pushed on a wheelchair. He doesn't remember meeting any girl with pink hair before?

However it wasn't until she was directly in front of Luffy, that he suddenly remembered those familiar blue eyes and warmhearted smile. In that instant, he immediately jumps off his seat and flew directly to hug the young girl in the wheelchair.

"Shirahoshi! Wow, you look totally different—didn't recognize you with the pink wig." he says with the biggest smile on his face.

"Do you like it? Father helped pick it out; he says it compliments my skin nicely." Twisting on a strand of her long pink wig.

"I agree, it definitely does." He compliments.

"Thank you Luffy." Blushing at the boys kindhearted words. He was very good at that. "So what brings you here?"

"Just stopping by and drinking some hot chocolate with my friend."

"We're not friends." Law interjects but nobody seems to hear him.

"Well that's very sweet of you. You should stop by my room when you get the chance, I'd really love to catch up." Her father begins to slowly wheel her away. "Oh, and Luffy—you don't look too bad yourself." She smiles and waves off to him.

Back to taking his seat across form Law, Luffy takes a final sip from his now cold beverage. Law was just about to start off with his second cup, but decided to let it sit there for just a few minutes more. He begins to think about how many people Luffy might know here, and with curiosity getting the best of him, he decided to just go on and ask.

"You seem to know a lot of people here? Why is that?"

Luffy puts down his cup and shrugs his shoulders. "I used to visit here a lot and with all the time I spend coming, I made some good friends along the way. Most of them are in the oncology department, like Shirahoshi who you just met. It's really fun actually, hanging out with them and all."

Law notices the genuine smile stretched on Luffy's face and he can't help but to smile back for some reason. His smile seems to be contagious.

The rest of that of time, Luffy went on talking about his friends from the oncology department. Occasionally random people would stop by there table and say hello to the teen who he apparently knew one way or another. Law was completely fascinated by just how approachable the young teen was—complete and total opposite from him that's for sure. He was shocked as to how much enjoyment he was actually having—the constant look at the clock hanging on the wall was now long ignored.

After some time, Law finally decides to check the time. He is satisfied that he is nowhere near running late, but also nowhere near leaving. Looking back to Luffy, he catching the boy staring at him with a smug look on his face—what wickedness is this kid up too?

"What's with that face?" Law decides to ask.

"It's been decided."

"Uh—what has?" staring at him confused.

"You, silly—I've decided you're going to be my next new friend." He proudly informs him with an enormous grin.

Law was taken back by such a confident blunt statement. It's strange; normally when someone tries to befriend him, he automatically declines and walks away. This was different though. He wasn't walking away this time. If anything he felt quite pleased— and honored if that was even possible for him. Realizing that Luffy was still looking at him, possibly waiting a reply, he shook off his thoughts and gave him a response.

"Whoever said you could make these decisions?" Giving him a grin after. "Tsk, but whatever. Do whatever you'd like."

Luffy shoots up from his seat happily. Of course with the rattle of the teens body hitting against the table, both Law and Luffy's drinks fall to the floor. Lucky for him, they were completely empty this time.

— ▽o▽o▽—

Luffy takes his precious time walking to his next appointment. One by one he jumps over each tile square on the floor, distracting himself from the office door he was nearing. Coming to the last tile, he was then faced with his destination in front of him. '_Monet Harpy, MD_;_ Chief of Medical Oncology' _is labeled on the door and just like that, he steps inside.

Monet must have been running late since there was no sign of here inside her office. She was probably off somewhere in hospital gathering paperwork like always. Nevertheless, Luffy waited.

Walking around the small office, he looks over pictures on the walls—he tilts his head with curiosity because he has no idea what some of these painting even mean. Moving on, he makes his way towards the bookshelf and grabs the first book he could find. Opening up the book and only to find nothing but tiny letter, he shoves it back in its pace and decides to just take a seat and wait. He sighs with boredom as he kicks his feet and waits some more.

Fixing his attention to the miscellaneous items spread across the desk, he soon grows fascinated with silver cradle ball swinging back and forth from each end. He scoots closer to the desk and begins to stare at the toy with fascination.

Lost in a hypnotizing trance, he failed to hear the door open behind him and the loud heels nearing.

"Good afternoon Luffy. It's good to see you here on time." Monet takes her seat by the desk, "—and without the assistance from any of my nurses. I'm very pound of you"

"Believe me, I got here as slow as I could." He sits back on his seat and crosses his legs. "So did my results come in yet?"

"I think it's best if we wait for Ace to arrive, don't you think?"

"He's not coming today." Luffy informs. "He had to drive Vivi to school this morning so he let me ride the bus here. Pretty cool huh."

"I see." She says with a forced smile. "Would you find it better if we waited till tomorrow when he is present?"

"Nah, that's okay—ill just tell know about it when he gets home later today."

Already knowing the answer, Monet takes another glance at Luffy's opened file—she reads through the results again and again, hoping to find an error. Who was she even trying to fool? There was no error, even after running around this morning trying to get a second opinion, there was still no error. The hardest part was yet to come and all she could do is tuff it out and just say it.

Making a silent sigh, she puts on her serious face and looks Luffy directly in the eyes.

"Your biopsy report came back as positive…your ALL has relapsed, which means it is no longer responding to the treatment, Luffy."

Quiet. That's all it was for a few moments.

And just like that, Luffy's face went from serious to comical in just a matter of seconds. He couldn't stop chuckling at Monet for coming up with such a joke. He knew she was only joking— getting back at him for all the other times he toyed with her during serious matters.

"See, you can joke. And here you are telling me that you didn't know how." He laughs some more.

However when he looks back at Monet to catch her smiling, he only got back the same look as before. The familiar pained look he always dreaded to see again.

His laugh dies down, this couldn't be possible. There must be some kind of mistake.

"How is that even possible? It's only been four months—I've been feeling perfectly fine."

"Cancer returns randomly for just about anyone, regardless how healthy you are." She dropped her serious look and expressed a true sadden one "I'm very sorry, Luffy."

Luffy's attention was fixed elsewhere. He had nothing else to hear from Monet. The results were perfectly clear already.

Deciding that the teen received enough time to take it all in, she proceeded on with their meeting and brought up a different approaches that she was confident would work.

"Now I know this a lot to take in right now, however, I think it's wise that we look onto the next available approach. Seeing that we were able to catch it in time, I've looked up a few options suitable for you—would you like for me to read them to you?"

Luffy only nods his head.

"There is reinduction therapy which pretty much is like chemotherapy—however I don't recommend this option seeing that you where only three month in remission. This usually is meant for someone who's been on it six months or more." She flips to the next page. "Next we have bone marrow transplant which would be allergenic, however again, seeing that your brother in not a proper match, our only option here would be to wait for a donor –which is likely to take months to find." Flipping to the last and final page "There is also the option of clinical trials—now I strongly believe this one would be more suitable, there's this new chemotherapy drug currently being tested and—"

"I'll take that one." He cuts her off without hearing the rest.

"Don't you want to think the options over with Ace first?"

He looks Monet straight in the face. "It's me that's sick. Not him."

"Very well then." She can only say.

The remained of that time, Monet discussed with Luffy about the steps that would be taken during the trial. It was a long discussion and truthfully all Luffy felt like doing was heading home and going straight to bed. Blocking out their conversation, his eyes fix onto the silver cradle ball. From one end to another the cycle never stopped— it kept going—and going and going and he couldn't help but to feel envious of such a small desk toy.

Because as it continues to go on and on, he soon realizes that he's slowly beginning to slow down and soon— stop.

— ▽o▽o▽—

**Looks like things are starting to pick up in this chapter. Also, thank you for those of you that waited patiently for an update, please don't hate me for taking so long.**

**Any who, I hope you enjoyed reading this angsty update, definitely more to come later on. Thank you so much for reading, don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you think so far. I'd greatly appreciate it!**

**Have a wonderful day (:**


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